Since a few years, the Ducati Middle weight range has been constantly gaining displacement and have moved away from the traditional 600cc around segment. Ducati has traditionally found happiness in providing larger engines in bikes that weigh equal to smaller bikes from its rivals, essentially the Japanese ones.

now, the Panigale 899 was the oldest among the crop of sports bikes that Ducati has to offer and it was bound to see an update. It was disclosed in CARB documents that the 899 was going to get a capacity bump to 955cc and thus meaning that the Ducati’s “middleweight” offering gets a displacement increase that puts its well into superbike territory. Now, Ducati has finally revealed the bike with the moniker Panigale 959.

The 959 as expected has seen a capacity bump to become Euro 4 compliant. This has been achieved by a longer stroke as compared to the 899. This has also made the Panigale 959 a beastly powerful middleweight with the power output at 155bhp and a brilliant 108Nm of peak torque. Suspension is again Showa for front and rear and is fully adjustable, while the double sided swingarm is again doing the duty just like the 899.

The most visible addition to the 959 is the incorporation of the shotgun exhaust and there is no other way to put it than to say it is just plain hideous, and eye sore to what has been one of the most beautiful motorcycles ever designed and we reckon that the bike’s titanium shotgun exhaust will be removed by almost every Ducatisti first thing after purchase. However, the ghastly looking exhaust system is Europe only since the US version is getting the same underbelly exhaust design we have come to love in the Panigale range.

With its 'middleweights' touching superbike level displacements, it will be interesting to see if Ducati brings a 600cc or thereabout model in future since there is surely a big void in Ducati's model line-up and a sporty fully faired bike would be just a right addition to fill it up. However, it seems that Ducati has no interest in the traditional middleweight segment as of now, but a 600cc Fully Faired Sports Bike from Ducati will definitely see a lot of takers!!

Do tell us what you think about the new Panigale 959....and Watch the Video Below of the 959 doing its thing on a race track...